


The Importance of a Good Night's Sleep

by gwynndelous (Eristastic)



Series: SouKisu University AU [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Laundry, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 19:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4032592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eristastic/pseuds/gwynndelous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's funny how meeting someone at six in the morning in an empty laundromat can bring you together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Importance of a Good Night's Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> I mostly wrote this to express some of my own frustration at laundry being the one chore that still stumps me.

It was with great reluctance and another rueful look at the washing machine that sat there (mocking him in its inanimate mildness) that Sousuke had to admit he was stuck.

It had all been a bit of a blur: Rin with a hangover shouting at him that he had ‘ _had it up to here with your freeloading ass’_ , shoving the laundry basket into his arms, and pushing him out the door. Sousuke wasn’t the… _best_ at shouldering the chores in their shared apartment, true – he tended to subscribe to the ‘well, it’s not bothering me so I don’t see why you’re getting pissy about it’ mentality and all the punches it was rewarded with – but this time he did feel Rin had gone too far.

He slumped onto the bench in the middle of the obnoxiously bright, tiled room, wondering how long an appropriate waiting period would be before he could slink back to the apartment and ask Rin how to actually work the damn machines. It just felt spooky, sitting there at six in the morning with not a single one whirring the place into life. He grimaced. It also felt like each one was judging his inadequacy at performing basic adult responsibilities.

The door at the end of the laundromat droned out a tired _pii-pon_ as someone else came in, and Sousuke whipped his phone from his pocket to pretend he wasn’t stumped by what had to be one of the most mundane routines imaginable. A few seconds went by and he deemed it safe enough to sneak a look at the trespasser into his temple of shame.

The new guy looked about his age: smaller (understandable, given Sousuke’s bulk), wearing a loose tank top and shorts, and he had the most majestic waves of messy bubblegum-pink hair. He bent down to look at a machine, one hand hovering over the buttons curiously while the other held a giant canvas bag. To Sousuke’s great interest, the man’s fingers started playing an odd little start-stop dance over the buttons, reaching out as if to press one before immediately curling it back up and hesitating for a few seconds, then starting again. After a minute, he straightened up and ran a hand through his hair, pouting.

Sousuke could guess what was coming, and quickly turned his eyes back down to his phone (which had since turned treacherously into sleep mode). Sure enough, it didn’t take long before he heard one of those embarrassed little laughs that really just convey complete self-confidence and only serve to start conversations.

“Say,” the man said, a charming smile lighting up his face. “You wouldn’t happen to be able to give me a hand, would you? This is my first time doing something like this.”

For some reason he didn’t really care to think about, rather than admitting he was just as clueless, Sousuke’s gut reaction was to lean back in attempt to look _suave_ and put a painstakingly bored expression on to say, “You just have to, you know, choose the right settings…press a few buttons…get that washer going…”

They looked at each other for a few seconds in silence, Sousuke dying a little on the inside.

To his relief, the other man snorted, and, with a genuine grin, said, “So am I right in thinking neither of us knows how to work these things?”

“You definitely wouldn’t be wrong, at least.”

“Oh, dang…” the man slumped to sit next to Sousuke, still wearing that glittering smile of his. “That’s annoying. Anyone you can call at this ungodly hour?”

“Well, my roommate probably knows but he’s also the one who kicked me out, threatening death or something equally dramatic if I don’t come back with detergent-fresh laundry, so I’m thinking it’s a no-go there. You?”

“I snuck out of my friend’s place before she even woke up and she’s basically the antithesis of a morning person, so I’d prefer not to risk my life on this one either.”

“Ah.”

Still bleary, neither of them said anything for a minute or two, content in the happy sense of unreality that comes in the hours before 8 to those who aren’t used to them.

“I’m Kisumi.”

“Sousuke.”

“So what’s your excuse? For not knowing how to do this, I mean.”

Sousuke smiled, ashamed but not so much that it bothered him. “My roommate, Rin, does everything, pretty much. He’s super high maintenance and tends to get so annoyed by messes that he just does it all before I get a chance. I’d do it eventually, I guess, but…How about you?”

“I’ve been living with my parents for pretty much all my life and they always just did it for me. Guess I’m paying for it now,” he had the decency to look down at his hands, embarrassed.

“So why not wait for your parents to do it?”

“Ah…to put it mildly, there are some items of clothing I’d _really_ prefer they didn’t know I own.”

“Really? Show.”

Kisumi looked at Sousuke’s deadpan expression in shock but quickly recovered, shrugging his shoulders. He reached over to fumble about in the canvas bag and pulled out a bundle of gauze and lace which, upon proper straightening out, revealed itself to be some sort of bra-dress combo. Sousuke whistled. “Nice.”

Kisumi beamed, nodding enthusiastically. “I haven’t owned it for very long but I couldn’t stop myself buying it, you know? And it was _super_ expensive,” he shivered for dramatic effect, “but totally worth it. I’m probably going to cave and spend the best part of my next paycheck on something similar next month.”

“Sounds a plan. But doesn’t that stuff need dry cleaning?”

“You think?” Kisumi searched around for the label and studied it laboriously for a few seconds before giving in. “I…I don’t know what any of this means…”

“You really are hopeless with this stuff, aren’t you?”

“ _You_ try it, then!”

“Fine, give it here.” Sousuke tried to concentrate on the washing instructions, he really did, but having someone’s lingerie in his hands did wonders for derailing most of his attempts, especially when said person was staring at him with a (very cute) triumphant smirk on his face. So he surrendered too, handing it back.

A small furrow appeared in Kisumi’s forehead as he considered the bra-dress-thing again. “Maybe I should get it dry cleaned, then…is that sort of thing expensive?”

“I guess so. I think I got some suits dry cleaned once. Though Rin might have done that one for me too…”

Kisumi nodded, still frowning. “I guess I’ll just wash it here and hope for the best. It’s not like it’s satin or anything. I hear that stuff’s delicate.”

“Yeah, but what happens if it gets ruined and you can’t show it off anymore?”

“Oh, I only wore it for me. One of those private comfort things, you know? I haven’t shown it off for anyone.”

“Really? Want to do it for me?” It took Sousuke a good second to realise he’d actually said it out loud, and with as much poise as he could muster, he closed his eyes and put his head in his hands. “Forget I said that, please.”

Kisumi giggled (and the fact that a grown man could giggle and have it sound more endearing than terrifying was a feat in itself) and shuffled closer to Sousuke on the bench. “So have you got any embarrassing laundry you’d care to share? Feels a bit one sided here.”

“Nah, my stuff’s pretty boring,” Sousuke said, raising himself back up to a sitting position.

“You sure? Because I can see a Nishikino Maki t-shirt tucked in there.”

“A what?” Sousuke turned around to check the basket. “Oh, that. Yeah, Rin’s pretty into Love Live lately.”

“Thank god – I thought I was going to have to explain why she’s not best girl.” To Sousuke’s surprise, Kisumi actually looked relieved.

“Why? Who’s your favourite?”

Kisumi put a finger to his lips. “I don’t give out my favourite characters until at least the second date, come on!”

“Can this count as the first?”

Kisumi considered the question playfully before nodding.

 

After half an hour of happily forgetting that they’d come to down to the laundromat for a reason, they both decided it was probably time to brave one of the sleeping dragons. Sousuke took the hit (Kisumi reasoned that if Rin had put up with him this long it probably wouldn’t affect their friendship for more than a week and Sousuke couldn’t really fault his logic), and called Rin, making sure to hold the phone a safe distance from his ear. Kisumi leaned in beside him to listen.

With a damning click, Rin picked up the phone after five rings. Even though it was muffled, his voice managed to send chills down Sousuke’s spine. “This had better be life-threatening.”

Sousuke recovered quickly and chose to ignore the comment. “So, funny story, turns out I haven’t actually been in one of these places ever, so I was wondering if you could enlighten me on how to work the machines?”

“…”

“It’d benefit you too, I’m sure.”

“…”

“Yo, Rin? Still there?”

“You’re calling me. Before seven in the morning. When you know damn well I have a hangover. Because you can’t figure out the dials on a goddamn washing machine. In a laundromat.”

“Yeah, so-”

“Just giving you fair warning here, Yamazaki: I am going to kill you when you walk through that door – _THEY HAVE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE DAMN MACHINES_.”

He hung up, leaving Sousuke and Kisumi to nurse their ears, then look at each other.

“Did…did you check the top of the machines?” Kisumi asked hesitantly.

Sousuke shook his head. “You either, huh?”

They walked over to the row of washing machines still sitting in mild-mannered silence, and there, on the top of the nearest one, was a grubby, faded, but undeniably legible set of instructions.

“Well, who’d have thought it?”

**Author's Note:**

> No offence to Maki, of course - I hear she's an excellent girl.


End file.
